WASHINGTON (CNN) - In a symbolic vote to send a message to budget negotiators, the House voted overwhelmingly Tuesday to defeat a measure that would have raised the national debt ceiling without any accompanying deficit or spending reduction provisions.

Washington (CNN)–Advising fellow House Democrats not to take the political bait, the number two House Democrat, Maryland Rep. Steny Hoyer, is urging his colleagues to join with House Republicans and oppose a bill to raise the debt limit when the House votes Tuesday night.

House Republican leaders scheduled a vote to raise the nation's debt ceiling by $2.4 trillion. The measure, which doesn’t include any spending reductions or budget reforms, is expected to fail in the GOP-controlled House. Republican aides say they don’t anticipate any Republicans will vote for it. But GOP leaders want to show that a bill without significant spending cuts cannot pass in the House and use the vote to demonstrate that Democrats are not serious about cutting spending. While many Democrats agree Congress needs to reduce the deficit by cutting spending, they don't favor tying the issue to the debt vote.FULL POST

(CNN) - By now, people in the United States and elsewhere in the world are familiar with the Tea Party, but there's a new social movement on the political block - it's called the "Tequila Party," and its leaders say the group is serving as a wake-up call to the Latino voting bloc.

Tequila Party organizers describe their movement as a nonpartisan group that launched this year on May 5 - Cinco de Mayo, to mark the Mexican holiday. It has enlisted both Democrats and Republicans to get the more than 20 million eligible Latino voters to become "consistent primary and general election voters," the movement's website says.

Washington (CNN) - President Barack Obama's overseas trip is done, but a new CNN/Opinion Research Corporation national poll indicates domestic debate over some hot-button international policy issues, including Libya and the Middle East, rages on.

On Libya, some members of Congress want to invoke the War Powers Act, and according to the survey, a majority of Americans appear to agree. Fifty-five percent of people questioned in the poll, which was released Tuesday, believe that Congress, not the president, should have the final authority for deciding whether the U.S. should continue its military mission in Libya.FULL POST

Washington (CNN) - The Republican-controlled House of Representatives is expected to vote down legislation Tuesday that would the raise the federal government's debt limit by approximately $2.4 trillion without requiring any new spending cuts.

The bill would ensure Washington's ability to keep paying its bills through the end of 2012.

(CNN) - Potential 2012 GOP presidential candidate Jon Huntsman used an interview published Tuesday to clarify how close he is with President Obama, his former boss.

"We don't have a personal relationship," Huntsman, who served as U.S. ambassador to China under Obama, told Real Clear Politics. "I was asked to do a sensitive job, but it's not like it was based on a personal relationship."FULL POST

Unlike most carefully choreographed presidential campaigns that routinely release detailed candidate schedules, Palin's staff is keeping most of the national news media in the dark about her political action committee's bus tour this week.